BY 


HERBERT  E.  BOLTON,  Ph.  D. 

Adjunct  Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Texas 


Reprinted  from  the  Quarterly  of  the  Texas  State  Historical  Association, 
Vol.  XI,  No.  4  (April,  1908) 


AUSTIN,  TEXAS 


Reprinted  from  the  Quarterly  of  the  Texas  State  Historical  Association, 
Vol.  XI,  No. '4,  pp.  249-276   (April,  1908). 

THE  NATIVE  TEIBES  ABOUT  THE  EAST  TEXAS 
MISSION'S. 

HERBERT  E.  BOLTON. 
INTRODUCTORY. 

The  history  of  the  Spanish  regime  in  the  Southwest  is  very 
largely  the  history  of  an  Indian  policy  in  its  military,  political, 
and  religious  phases,  and  to  understand  it  aright  it  is  manifestly 
necessary  to  know  something  of  the  people  over  whom  the  Spaniards 
extended  their  authority  and  upon  whom  they  tried  to  impose  their 
faith  and  their  civilization. 

The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  furnish  a  partial  introduction 
to  the  early  history  of  the  Spaniards  in  eastern  Texas — the  scene 
of  their  first  systematic  activities  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
upper  Eio  Grande — by  presenting  some  of  the  main  features  of 
the  organization  of  the  compact  group  of  tribes  living  in  the  upper 
ISTeches  and  the  Angelina  Eiver  valleys,  the  first  and  the  most 
important  group  with  which  they  came  into  intimate  contact. 
These  tribes  furnished  the  early  field  of  labor  especially  for  the 
Franciscans  of  the  College  of  Santa  Cruz  de  Queretaro,  who  worked 
for  fifteen  years  in  the  region  and  founded  in  it  five  missions, 
while  one  was  founded  there  and  maintained  for  more  than  half  a 
century  by  the  College  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  Guadalupe  de  Zaca- 
tecas.  It  is  hoped  that  this  paper  will  throw  new  light  on  the  all 
too  obscure  history  of  these  interesting  establishments,  particularly 
with  respect  to  their  locations.1 

The  Names  "Texas"  and  "Hasinai." 

The  tribes  in  question  commonly  have  been  called  the  Texas, 
but  more  properly  the  Hasinai.  Concerning  the  meaning  and 

lThe  authoritative  presentation  of  the  general  history  of  the  beginnings 
of  these  establishments  is  that  contained  in  the  excellent  articles  by  Dr. 
R.  C.  Clark,  published  in  this  journal,  Vol.  V,  171-205,  and  Vol.  VI,  1-26. 
In  their  bearings  upon  Indian  organization  and  tribal  names  they  are 
marred  to  some  extent  by  the  use  of  corrupt  copies  of  the  sources  instead 
of  the  originals,  as  will  be  seen  by  comparing  them  with  what  follows.  It 
is  but  fair  to  state  that  in  the  revision  and  extension  of  these  articles, 
about  to  appear  as  a  Bulletin  of  the  University  of  Texas,  Mr.  Clark  has 
corrected  some  of  the  errors. 

For  facts  concerning  the  individual  tribes  mentioned  in  the  course  of 
this  article,  see  the  Handbook  of  American  Indians,  edited  by  F.  W. 
Hodge  (Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  No.  30,  Part  I, 
1907;  Part  II  in  press). 


250  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

usage  of  these  terms  I  shall  only  present  here  somewhat  dogmati- 
cally part  of  the  results  of  a  rather  extended  study  which  I  have 
made  of  these  points  and  which  I  hope  soon  to  publish.1 

The  testimony  of  the  sources  warrants  the  conclusion  that  before 
the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  the  word  Texas,  variously  spelled  by 
the  early  writers,  had  wide  currency  among  the  tribes  of  eastern 
Texas  and  perhaps  over  a  larger  area;  that  its  usual  meaning  was 
"friends,"  or  more  technically,  "allies" ;  and  that  it  was  used  by  the 
tribes  about  the  early  missions,  at  least,  to  whom  especially  it 
later  became  attached  as  a  group  name,  to  designate  a  large  num- 
ber of  tribes  who  were  customarily  allied  against  the  Apaches. 
In  this  sense,  the  Texas  included  tribes  who  spoke  different  lan- 
guages and  who  were  as  widely  separated  as  the  Bed  Elver  and  the 
Eio  Grande.  It  seems  that  the  Neches-Angelina  tribes  designated 
did  not  apply  the  term  restrictively  to  themselves  as  a  name,  but 
that  they  did  use  it  in  a  very  untechnical  way  as  a  form  of  greeting, 
like  "hello,  friend,"  with  which  they  even  saluted  Spaniards  after 
their  advent.  I  may  say,  in  this  connection,  that  the  meanings 
"land  of  flowers,"  "tiled  roofs,"  "paradise,"  etc.,  sometimes  given 
for  the  name  Texas,  I  have  never  seen  even  suggested  by  early 
observers,  or  by  anyone  on  the  basis  of  trustworthy  evidence. 

The  name  Texas  has  been  variously  applied  by  writers,  but  it 
was  most  commonly  used  by  the  Spaniards,  from  whom  the  French 
and  the  English  borrowed  it,  to  designate  those  tribes  of  the  upper 
Neches  and  the  Angelina  valleys,  and  this  in  spite  of  their  know- 
ing full  well  that  among  the  natives  the  word  had  the  wider  appli- 
cation that  has  been  indicated.  There  are  many  variations  from 
this  usage  in  Spanish  writings,  it  is  true,  but  this,  nevertheless,  is 
the  ordinary  one.  As  a  tribal  name  the  term  was  sometimes  still 
further  narrowed  to  apply  to  a  single  tribe.  When  this  occurred, 
it  was  most  commonly  used  to  designate  the  Hainai,  the  head  tribe 
of  the  group  in  question,  but  sometimes  it  was  applied  to  the  Nabe- 
dache  tribe.  As  a  geographical  term,  the  name  Texas  was  first  ex- 
tended from  these  Neches-Angelina  tribes  to  their  immediate  coun- 
try. Thus  for  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  of  Spanish  occupation, 
the  phrase  "the  Province  of  Texas"  referred  only  to  the  country 
east  of  the  Trinity  Eiver ;  but  with  the  founding  of  the  San  Antonio 
settlements  the  term  was  extended  westward,  more  in  harmony 

1The  present  paper  embodies  some  of  the  results  of  an  investigation  of 
the  history  of  the  Texas  tribes  which  the  writer  is  making  for  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      251 

with  its  native  meaning,  to  the  Medina  Eiver,  and  then  gradually 
to  all  of  the  territory  included  within  the  present  State  of  Texas. 

While  the  name  Texas,  as  .used  by  the  tribes  in  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  State,  was  thus  evidently  a  broad  and  indefinite  term 
applied  to  many  and  unrelated  tribes  occupying  a  wide  area,  it  is 
clear  that  the  native  group  name  for  most  of  the  tribes  about 
the  missions  in  the  ISTeches  and  Angelina  valleys  was  Hasinai,  or 
Asinai.1  Today  the  term  Hasinai  is  used  by  the  Caddoans  on  the 
reservations  to  include  not  only  the  survivors  of  these  Neches- 
Angelina  tribes,  but  also  the  survivors  of  the  tribes  of  the  Sabine 
and  Eed  Eiver  country.  It  seems  from  the  sources,  however,  that 
in  the  early  days  the  term  was  more  properly  limited  to  the  former 
group.  In  strictest  usage,  indeed,  the  earliest  writers  did  not  in- 
clude all  of  these.  A  study  of  contemporary  evidence  shows  that 
at  the  first  contact  of  Europeans  with  these  tribes  and  for  a  long 
time  thereafter  writers  quite  generally  made  a  distinction  between 
the  Hasinai  (Asinai,  Cenis,  etc.)  and  the  Kadohadacho2  (Cad- 
dodacho)  group;  these  confederacies,  for  such  they  were  in  the 
Indian  sense  of  the  term,  were  separated  by  a  wide  stretch  of  unin- 
habited territory  extending  between  the  upper  Angelina  and  the 
Eed  Eiver  in  the  neighborhood  of  Texarkana;  their  separateness 
of  organization  was  positively  affirmed,  and  the  details  of  the  inner 
constitution  of  both  groups  were  more  or  less  fully  described; 
while  in  their  relations  with  the  Europeans  they  were  for  nearly 
a  century  dealt  with  as  separate  units.  Nevertheless,  because  of 
the  present  native  use  of  the  term  and  some  early  testimony  that 
can  not  be  disregarded,  I  would  not  at  present  assert  unreservedly 
that  the  term  formerly  was  applied  by  the  natives  only  to  the 
Neches-Angelina  group.  If,  as  seems  highly  probable,  this  was 
the  case,  in  order  to  preserve  the  native  usage  we  should  call  these 
tribes  the  Hasinai;  if  not,  then  the  Southern  Hasinai. 

The  name  Hasinai,  like  Texas,  was  sometimes  narrowed  in  its 
application  to  one  tribe,  usually  the  Hainai.  But  occasionally  the 
notion  appears  that  there  was  an  Hasinai  tribe  distinct  from  the 

'The  Spaniards  ordinarily  spelled  this  name  Asinai  or  Asinay,  and  the 
French  writers  Cenis.  Mooney,  the  ethnologist,  who  knows  intimately  the 
survivors  of  these  people  living  on  the  reservations,  writes  the  name  by 
which  they  now  call  themselves  Hasinai.,  or  Hasini,  preferably  the  former. 
His  spelling  has  been  adopted  as  the  standard  one  by  the  Bureau  of 
American  Ethnology.  See  the  Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology,  1092  (1896). 

2I  use  here  also  the  spelling  adopted  by  the  Bureau  of  American  Eth- 
nology. 


252  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

Hainai.  This,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  case.  As 
now  used  by  the  surviving  Hasinai  and  Caddos,  Hasinai  means 
"our  own  folk,"  or,  in  another  sense,  "Indians."1 

Ethnological  Relations:  Historical  Importance. 

The  Hasinai  belonged  to  the  Caddoan  linguistic  stock.  .This 
family,  which  was  a  large  one,  was  divided  into  three  principal 
geographic  groups  of  tribes:  the  northern,  represented  by  the 
Arikara  in  North  Dakota;  the  middle,  comprising  the  Pawnee 
confederacy,  formerly  living  on  the  Platte  River,  Nebraska,  and  to 
the  west  and  southwest  thereof;  and  the  southern,  including  most 
of  the  tribes  of  eastern  Texas,  together  with  many  of  those  of 
western  Louisiana  and  of  southern  Oklahoma.2  Of  this  southern 
group  the  tribes  about  the  Queretaran  missions  were  one  of  the 
most  important  subdivisions.  They,  together  with  the  related 
Caddo  tribes  to  the  north,  represented  the  highest  form  of 
native  society  between  the  Red  and  the  upper  Rio  Grande  rivers, 
a  stretch  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles.  This  fact  gave  them  from 
the  outset  a  relatively  large  political  importance.  While  it  has 
been  clearly  shown  by  writers  that  the  immediate  motive  to  plant- 
ing the  first  Spanish  establishment  within  this  area  was  French 
encroachment,  little  note  has  been  made  of  the  fame  and  the  rela- 
tive advancement  of  the  Hasinai  Indians  as  factors  in  deter- 
mining the  choice  of  the  location.  LaSalle's  colony,  which  first 
brought  the  Spaniards  to  Texas  to  settle,  was  established  on  the 
Gulf  coast;  and  had  the  natives  of  this  region  been  as  well  or- 
ganized and  as  influential  among  the  tribes  as  the  Hasinai,  and, 
therefore,  as  likely  to  become  the  theater  of  another  French  in- 
trusion, the  logical  procedure  for  the  Spaniards  would  have  been 
to  establish  themselves  on  the  ground  where  the  first  intrusion 
had  occurred,  and  within  relatively  easy  reach  from  Mexico  both 
by  water  and  by  land.  But  the  Karankawan  tribes  of  the  coast 
proved  hostile  to  the  French  and  Spaniards  alike,  and,  while  their 
savage  life  and  inhospitable  country  offered  little  to  attract  the 
missionary,  their  small  influence  over  the  other  groups  of  natives 
rendered  them  relatively  useless  as  a  basis  for  extending  Spanish 
political  authority.  These  considerations  entered  prominently  into 

JSee  Mooney,  op.  cit. 

"Powell,  "Indian  Linguistic  Families,"  in  the  Seventh  Annual  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  with  map;  Handbook  of  American 
Indians  (Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Bui.  No.  30),  182. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      253 

the  Spaniards'  decision  to  establish  their  first  Texas  missions  far 
in  the  interior,  at  a  point  difficult  to  reach  from  Mexico  by  land 
and  wholly  inaccessible  by  water.  Events  justified  their  estimate 
of  the  importance  of  the  Hasinai  as  a  base  of  political  operations. 
But,  while  the  control  of  these  tribes  and  their  Caddo  neighbors 
remained  for  a  century  or  more  a  cardinal  point  in  the  politics  of 
the  Texas-Louisiana  frontier,  it  was  soon  learned  that  the  less 
advanced  and  weaker  tribes  of  the  San  Antonio  region,  nearer 
Mexico  and  farther  removed  from  the  contrary  influence  of  the 
French,  afforded  a  better  field  for  missionary  labors. 

THE    PRINCIPAL   TRIBES. 

Since  Indian  political  organization  was  at  best  but  loose  and 
shifting  and  was  strongly  dominated  by  ideas  of  independence, 
and  since  writers  were  frequently  indefinite  in  their  use  of  terms, 
it  would  not  be  easy  to  determine  with  strict  accuracy  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  this  Neches-Angelina  confederacy  at  different 
times.  However,  a  few  of  the  leading  tribes — those  of  greatest 
historical  interest — stand  out  with  distinctness  and  can  be  followed 
for  considerable  periods  of  time. 

De  Leon  learned  in  1689  from  the  chief  of  the  Nabedache  tribe, 
the  westernmost  of  the  group,  that  his  people  had  nine  settle- 
ments.1 Francisco  de  Jesus  Maria  Casanas,  writing  in  1691  near 
the  Nabedache  village  after  fifteen  months'  residence  there,  re- 
ported that  the  "province  of  Aseney"  comprised  nine  tribes 
(naciones)  living  in  the  Neches-Angelina  valleys  within  a  district 
about  thirty-five  leagues  long.  It  would  seem  altogether  prob- 
able that  these  reports  referred  to  the  same  nine  tribes.  Those 
named  by  Jesus  Maria,  giving  his  different  spellings,  were  the 
Nabadacho  or  Yneci  (Nabaydacho),  Necha  (Neita),  Kechaui,  Na- 
cono,  Nacachau,  Nazadachotzi,  Cachae  (Cataye),  Nabiti,  and  Na- 
sayaya  (JSTasayaha).1  The  location  of  these  tribes  Jesus  Maria 
points  out  with  some  definiteness,  and  six  of  them  at  least  we  are 
able  to  identify  in  later  times  without  question.  Moreover,  his 
description  of  their  governmental  organization  is  so  minute  that 
one  feels  that  he  must  have  had  pretty  accurate  information.  The 
testimony  of  a  number  of  other  witnesses  who  wrote  between  1687 

^Poblaciones."  Letter  of  May  18,  1689,  printed  in  Buckingham  Smith's 
Documentos  para,  la  Historia  de  la  Florida;  evidently  that  cited  by 
Velasco,  in  Memorias  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  179.  Concerning  the 
Memorias,  see  note  3,  p.  256. 

2Relaci6n,  August  15,  1691,  MS.,   107,  108,  112. 


254  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

and  1692  in  the  main  corroborates  that  of  Jesus  Maria,  particu- 
larly in  the  important  matter  of  not  including  the  Nasoni  tribe 
within  the  Hasinai.1 

It  so  happens  that  after  1692  we  get  little  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  Hasinai  until  1715.  When  light  again  dawns  there  appear 
in  common  usage  one  or  two  additions  to  Jesus  Maria's  list. 
Whether  they  represent  an  oversight  on  his  part  or  subsequent 
accretions  to  the  group  we  can  not  certainly  say.  Of  those  in  his 
list  six,  the  Nabadacho,  Neche,  Nacogdoche,  Nacachau,  Nacono, 
and  Nabiti  are  mentioned  under  the  same  names  by  other  writers. 
Cachae  is  evidently  Jesus  Maria's  name  for  the  well  known  Hainai, 
as  will  appear  later,  while  the  Nabiti  seem  to  be  San  Denis's 
Nabiri  and  may  be  Joutel's  Noadiche  (Nahordike).  For  the 
Nechaui  we  can  well  afford  to  accept  Jesus  Maria's  explicit  state- 
ment. Besides  these  nine,  the  Spaniards  after  1716  always  treated 
as  within  the  Hasinai  group  the  Nasoni,  Nadaco,  and  the  Nacao. 
Judging  from  the  localities  occupied  and  some  other  circumstances, 
it  is  not  altogether  improbable  that  two  of  these  may  be  old  tribes 
under  new  names,  as  seems  to  be  clearly  the  case  with  the  Hainai^ 
The  Nasayaya,  named  by  Jesus  Maria,  may  answer  to  the  Nasoni, 
well  known  after  1716,2  and  the  Nabiti  may  possibly  be  the  Nadaco, 
also  well  known  after  that  date.  If  both  of  these  surmises  be  true, 
we  must  add  to  Jesus  Maria's  list  at  least  the  Nacao,  making  ten 
tribes  in  all;  if  not,  there  were  at  least  eleven  or  twelve.  Putting 
first  the  best  known  and  the  most  important,  they  were:  the 
Hainai,  Nabedache,  Nacogdoche,  Nasoni,  Nadaco,  Neche,  Nacono, 
Nechaui,  Nacao,  and,  perhaps,  the  Nabiti  and  the  Nasayaya.  This 
is  not  intended  as  a  definitive  list  of  the  Hasinai  at  any  one  time, 

^ee  Joutel,  in  Margry,  Decouvertes,  III,  341,  344,  et  seq.  (French's 
version  of  Joutel's  Journal,  printed  in  the  Historical  Collections  of 
Louisiana,  is  very  corrupt,  and  must  be  used  with  the  greatest  care)  ; 
Teran,  Descripcifin,  in  Mem.  de  Nucva  Espana,  XXVII,  48,  et  seq. 

2The  Nasayaya  are  placed  by  Jesus  Maria  in  a  location  corresponding 
very  closely  to  that  later  occupied  by  the  Nasoni.  Yet,  the  facts  that 
though  Jesus  Maria  named  the  Nasoni  he  did  not  include  them  in  the 
Hasinai  group  while  he  did  include  the  Nasayaya,  and  that  Teran  ex- 
plicitly excludes  the  Nasoni  from  the  Hasinai,  make  it  seem  probable  thai 
the  Nasoni  and  the  Nasayaya  were  distinct.  The  strongest  ground  for 
rejecting  this  conclusion  is  the  fact  that  the  latter  tribe  never  appears 
again  under  a  recognizable  name,  unless  they  are  the  Nacaxe,  who  later 
appear  on  the  Sabine.  The  Nabiti  might  possibly  be  the  Nadaco,  but 
this  does  not  seem  likely,  for  the  locations  do  not  correspond  very  closely, 
while  as  late  as  1715  San  Denis  gave  the  Nabiri  and  Nadoco  as  two 
separate  tribes. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      255 

but  it  does  include  those  known  to  have  been  within  the  com- 
pact area  about  the  Queretaran  missions  and  commonly  treated 
as  within  the  Hasinai  group.  By  following  the  footnotes  below  it 
will  be  seen  that  "Nacoches,"  "Noaches,"  and  "Asinay,"  which 
have  been  given,  with  resulting  confusion,  as  names  of  tribes  where 
early  missions  were  established,  are  simply  corruptions  of  "Neche," 
"Nasoni,"  and  "Ainai,"  as  the  forms  appear  in  the  original  manu- 
scripts, whose  whereabouts  are  now  known. 

The  Ais,  or  Eyeish,  a  neighbor  tribe  living  beyong  the  Arroyo 
Attoyac,  at  whose  village  a  Zacatecan  mission  was  founded  in  1717, 
seem  to  have  fallen  outside  the  Hasinai  confederacy.  Only  re- 
cently have  they  been  included  by  ethnologists  in  the  Caddoan 
stock,  and,  although  they  are  now  regarded  as  Caddoan,  there  are 
indications  that  their  dialect  was  quite  different  from  that  of  their 
western  neighbors,  while  their  manners  and  customs  were  always 
regarded  as  inferior  to  those  of  these  other  tribes.1  Moreover, 
there  is  some  evidence  that  they  were  generally  regarded  as  aliens, 
and  that  they  were  sometimes  even  positively  hostile  to  the  Hasi- 
nai. Thus  Jesus  Maria  includes  them  in  his  list  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Hasinai;  Espinosa,  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Jesus 
Maria  wrote,  speaks  of  them  as  friendly  toward  the  "Assi- 
nay,"  from  which  by  implication  he  excludes  them,  but  says 
that  the  Hasinai  medicine  men  "make  all  the  tribes  believe  that 
disease  originates  in  the  bewitchment  which  the  neighboring  In- 
dians, the  Bidnis,  Ays,  and  Yacdocas,  cause  them,"  a  belief  that 
clearly  implies  hostility  between  the  tribes  concerned,2  while  Me- 
zieres  wrote  in  1779  that  the  Ais  were  hated  alike  by  their  Spanish 
and  their  Indian  neighbors.8 

The  Adaes,  or  Adai,  in  whose  midst  the  mission  of  Nuestra 
Senora  de  los  Dolores  was  founded  in  1717,  lived  beyond  the 
Sabine,  and  belonged  to  the  Red  Eiver  group  of  Caddoans,  or  the 
Caddo.  They,  therefore,  do  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  paper. 

THEIR  LOCATION. 

For  determining  the  location  of  these  tribes  our  chief  materials 
are  the  Journal  of  Joutel  (1687),  the  Eelacion  of  Francisco  de 

^n  the  subjects  of  their  languages  see  the  Handbook  of  the  American 
Indians,  under  "Eyeish." 
2Cr6nica  Apostdlica,  428. 
*Expedici6n,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  240. 


256 


Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 


Jesus  Maria  Casanas  (1691),  De  Leon's  diary  of  the  expedition  of 
1690,  Teran's  for  that  of  1691-2,  those  of  Ramon  and  Espinosa 
for  the  expedition  of  1716,  Pena's  for  that  of  Aguayo  (1721), 
Rivera's  for  his  visita  of  1727,  Solis's  for  that  made  by  him  in 
1767-8,  and  Mezieres's  accounts  of  his  tours  among  the  Indians 
in  1772,  1778,  and  1779.  Two  only  of  these  are  in  print,  while 
two  of  them  have  not  before  been  used.1  Besides  these  and 
numerous  supplementing  documentary  sources,  there  are  (1)  the 


HASiNAi  VLLAGES, 


early  surveys  showing  the  Camino  Real,  or  Old  San  Antonio  Road, 
whose  windings  in  eastern  Texas  were  determined  mainly  by  the 

'Of  the  diaries  of  De  Le6n  and  Espinosa  I  cite  only  the  manuscripts  in 
the  Archivo  General  y  Publico,  Mexico.  These,  I  believe,  are  not  other- 
wise available,  and  have  not  before  been  used  except  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Clark, 
who  has  recently  had  access  to  my  transcripts.  Of  Jesus  Maria's  Relaci6n 
I  follow  an  autograph  manuscript,  which,  however,  appears  to  be  a  copy 
instead  of  the  original.  Of  the  diaries  of  Teran  and  Ram6n  I  have  had 
access  to  the  originals,  and  of  the  Mezieres  manuscripts  either  to  the  orig- 
inals or  to  certified  official  copies.  My  copy  of  the  Rivera  diary  is  from 
the  edition  printed  in  1736.  For  the  Pefla  and  Soils  diaries  I  have  had 
to  depend  upon  the  copies  in  the  Memorias.  On  comparing  Memorias 
transcripts,  in  general,  with  the  originals  I  have  found  that  they  are  very 
corrupt  and  that  numerous  mistakes  have  resulted  from  their  use.  But 
in  cases  where  there  are  no  essential  differences,  I  cite  the  Memorias 
copies,  because  they  are  more  generally  accessible;  otherwise  I  cite  the 
originals. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      257 

location  of  the  principal  Indian  villages  where  the  Spaniards  had 
settlements,  (2)  certain  unmistakable  topographical  features, 
such  as  the  principal  rivers  and  the  Neche  Indian  mounds,  and 
(3)  geographical  names  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the 
period  of  Spanish  occupation. 

It  will  be  interesting,  before  studying  the  location  of  each  one  of 
the  tribes  separately,  to  read  the  general  description  of  the  group 
given  by  Jesus  Maria  in  1691.  Speaking  of  the  Great  Xinesi,  he 
said,  "To  him  are  subject  all  of  these  nine  tribes :  The  Nabadacho, 
which,  for  another  name,  is  called  Yneci.  Within  this  tribe  are 
founded  the  mission  of  Nuestro  Padre  San  Francisco  and  the 
one  which  I  have  founded  in  Your  Excellency's  name,  that  of 
El  Santissimo  Nombre  de  Maria.  The  second  tribe  is  that  of  the 
Necha.  It  is  separated  from  the  former  by  the  Rio  del  Arcangel 
San  Miguel  [the  Neches].  Both  are  between  north  and  east.1 
At  one  side  of  these  two,  looking  south,  between  south  and  east, 
is  the  tribe  of  the  Nechaui,  and  half  a  league  from  the  last, 
another,  called  the  Nacono.  Toward  the  north,  where  the  above- 
mentioned  Necha  tribe  ends,  is  the  tribe  called  Nacachau.  Be- 
tween this  tribe  and  another  called  Nazadachotzi,  which  is  toward 
the  east,  in  the  direction  of  the  house  of  the  Great  Xinesi,  which 
is  about  .  .  .  half  way  between  these  two  tribes,2  comes 
another,  which  begins  at  the  house  of  the  Great  Xinesi,  between 
north  and  east,  and  which  is  called  Cachae.  At  the  end  of  this 
tribe,  looking  toward  the  north,  is  another  tribe  called  Nabiti, 
and  east  of  this  a  tribe  called  the  Nasayaha.  These  nine  tribes 
embrace  an  extent  of  about  thirty-five  leagues  and  are  all  subject 
to  this  Great  Xinesi."3  This  description  will  be  convenient  for 
reference  as  we  proceed. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  the  average  league  of  the  old  Spanish 
diaries  of  expeditions  into  Texas  was  about  two  miles.  This  should 
be  kept  in  mind  when  reading  the  data  hereafter  presented. 

leaning  north  and  east  of  the  point  where  he  was  writing,  near  San 
Pedro  Creek,  Houston  County,  as  will  appear  below. 

*My  text  (see  note  3,  p.  256)  may  be  correct  here.  It  reads  "q  esta, 
Como  almediodia  y  enel  Medio  de  las  dos  N'aciones."  It  is  possible  that 
the  copyist  first  wrote  almediodia  by  mistake  for  enel  Medio  de  and  then 
wrote  the  latter  correctly,  but  neglected  to  erase  the  words  written  by 
mistake.  Other  data  seem  to  bear  out  this  supposition. 

'Relaci6n,  107-108. 


258  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

The  Nacogdoche  Tribe  and  the  Mission  of  Guadalupe. 

A  starting  point  or  base  from  which  to  determine  the  location  of 
most  of  the  tribes  is  the  founding  of  the  mission  of  Nuestra  Senora 
de  Guadalupe  at  the  main  village  of  the  Nacogdoches  in  1716, 
for  it  can  be  shown  that  this  mission  remained  on  the  same  site 
until  it  was  abandoned  in  1773;  that  the  modern  city  of  Nacog- 
doches was  built  at  the  old  mission  site;  and,  therefore,  that  the 
location  of  this  city  represents  the  location  of  the  principal  Na- 
cogdoche village.  The  evidence  briefly  stated  is  as  follows: 
Ramon,  whose  expedition  founded  this  mission,  wrote  in  has 
Derrotero  that  nine  leagues  east-southeast  of  the  principal  Hasinai 
village  (the  Hainai),  on  the  Angelina  Eiver,  he  arrived  at  the 
"village  of  the  Nacogdoches,"  and  that  on  the  next  day  he 
"set  out  from  this  mission,"  implying  clearly  that  the  mission 
was  located  where  he  was  writing,  at  the  Nacogdoche  village.1 
As  is  well  known,  all  of  the  missions  of  this  section  were  aban- 
doned in  1719  because  of  fear  of  a  French  invasion.  Pena  reports  in 
his  diary  of  the  Aguayo  expedition  of  1721  that  Aguayo,  who  rebuilt 
the  abandoned  missions,  entered  "the  place  where  stood  the  mission 
of  N.  S.  de  Guadalupe  de  Nacodoches,"  and  rebuilt  the  church. 
The  inference  is  that  the  site  was  the  old  one,  more  especially 
since  in  one  instance  in  the  same  connection  where  a  mission  site 
was  changed  Pena  mentions  the  fact.2  This  mission  was  continued 
without  any  known  change  till  1773,  when  it  was  abandoned. 
But  when  in  1779  (not  1778,  as  is  commonly  stated)  Antonio  Gil 
Ybarbo  laid  the  foundations  of  modern  Nacogdoches  with  his 
band  of  refugees  from  the  Trinity  Eiver  settlement  of  Bucareli, 
he  found  the  Nacogdoches  mission  buildings  still  standing,  settled 
his  colony  near  them,  and  apparently  reoccupied  some  of  them.3 
Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  city  of  Nacogdoches  represents  very 
closely,  perhaps  exactly,  the  site  of  the  main  village  of  the  Nacog- 
doche tribe  at  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century.  If  more 

1Derrotero,  original  in  the  Archive  General  y  Publico,  Mexico.  The 
copy  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  Vol.  XXVII,  is  very  corrupt.  At  this 
point  a  generous  addition  is  made  by  the  copist.  See  folio  158. 

2Pefia,  Diario,  op.  cit.,  XXVIII,  40,  43,  44. 

'Antonio  Gil  Ybarbo  to  Croix,  May  13,  1779,  MS.  See  Bolton  in  THE 
QUARTERLY,  IX,  No.  2,  for  the  story  of  the  beginning  of  modern  Nac- 
ojjdoches. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texag  Missions.      259 

evidence  were  necessary,  the  presence  within  the  city  of  Nacog- 
doches  till  recent  times  of  four  ancient  Indian  mounds  would 
strengthen  the  conclusion.1  With  this  as  a  starting  point,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  indicate  the  approximate  location  of  the  most 
prominent  of  the  remaining  tribes.  Starting  with  the  Nacogdoche 
involves  the  disadvantage  of  reading  the  diaries  backwards,  it  is 
true,  but  has  the  great  advantage  of  enabling  us  to  proceed  from 
a  well-established  point. 

The  Hainai  Tribe  and  the  Mission  of  Conc&pdon. 

On  the  east  bank  of  the  Angelina  River,  a  little  north  of  a 
direct  west  line  from  the  Nacogdoche  village,  was  that  of  the 
Hainai.2  This  tribe,  whose  lands  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  Ange- 
lina,3 was  the  head  of  the  Hasinai  confederacy,  and  for  that 
reason  was  sometimes  called  Hasinai.  It  is  to  this  tribe,  also,  that 
the  name  Texas  was  usually  applied  when  it  was  restricted  to  a 
single  one.  Within  its  territory  was  the  chief  temple  of  the  group, 
presided  over  by  the  great  Xinesi,  or  high  priest.4  At  its  main 
village  the  mission  of  La  Purissima  Concepcion  was  founded  in 
1716. 

After  the  Relacion  of  Jesus  Maria,  our  first  sources  of 
specific  information  on  the  location  of  this  village  are  the  diaries. 
Ramon  tells  us  that  he  entered  the  "Pueblo  de  los  Ainai"  just 
east  of  the  Angelina  River,  and  that  nine  leagues  east-south-east 
of  this  village  he  reached  the  "Pueblo  de  los  Nacogdoches."5  The 

information  furnished  in  1907  by  Dr.  J.  E.  Mayfield,  of  Nacogdoches. 
He  writes:  "Four  similar  mounds  once  existed  at  Nacogdoches,  located 
upon  a  beautiful  site  about  three  hundred  yards  northeast  of  the  old 
stone  'fort  or  stone  house  that  has  recently  been  removed  from  the  main 
city  plaza.  .  .  .  These  have  been  razed  and  almost  obliterated.  To 
the  east  of  them  is  a  hole  or  excavation  from  which  the  earth  may  have 
been  taken  for  the  construction  of  these  mounds." 

2I  follow  the  spelling  of  Mooney.  which  has  been  adopted  by  the  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology.  The  more  common  Spanish  forms  were  Aynay 
and  Ainai.  English  writers  frequently  spell  it  loni. 

'Espinosa,  Crdnica  Apostdlica,  425;  Diario,  1716;  MS.  entry  for  July 
12;  Mezi&res,  Carta,  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  241. 

Mesus  Maria,  Relaci&n;   Espinosa,  Crdnica  Apostdlica,  423. 

6Derrotero,  entries  for  July  7  and  8.  Original  in  the  Archive  General 
y  Publico,  Mexico.  The  copy  in  Hemorias  de  Nueva  Espana  (XXVII, 
157-8)  changes  "Ainai"  to  "Asinay"  and  "Nacogdoches"  to  "Nacodoches." 
It  is  such  errors  as  the  former,  evidently,  that  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that 


260  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

missionary  fathers  who  accompanied  Ramon,  in  their  Representa- 
tion made  at  the  same  time  reported  the  distance  as  eight  leagues 
east-south-east.  Pena  (1721)  says  the  distance  was  eight  leagues 
east-north-east  from  the  presidio  founded  near  the  mission,  and 
nine  from  the  mission.  Rivera  (1727)  found  the  mission  just 
east  of  the  "Rio  de  los  Aynays,"  or  the  Angelina,  and  nine  leagues 
west  of  the  Nacogdoches  mission.1  These  witnesses  tally  in  the 
main  with  each  other  and  also,  be  it  noted,  with  the  testimony  of 
the  San  Antonio  Road,  as  its  route  is  now  identified  in  the  old 
surveys.  According  to  the  best  information  obtainable  it  ran  from 
Nacogdoches  a  little  north  of  west  to  the  Angelina,  passing  it 
about  at  Linwood  Crossing.2  Espinosa  tells  us  that  he  founded 
the  mission  of  Concepcion  a  mile  or  two  east  of  the  place  where 
the  highway  crossed  the  Angelina,  near  two  springs,  in  the  middle 
of  the  Hainai  village.  This  site  could  not  have  been  far  from 
Linwood  Crossing.3 

This  Hainai  tribe,  as  has  been  stated,  was  evidently  the  one 
which  Jesus  Maria  called  the  Cachae  or  Cataye.  He  said  that  be- 
tween the  Nacachau  and  the  Nacogdoche,  about  midway,  was  the 
lodge  of  the  Great  Xinesi,  and — if  we  get  his  meaning  here — 
that  immediately  northeast  of  this  lodge  was  the  Cachae  tribe. 
From  other  data  we  learn  that  the  Xinesi's  house  was  within  or  on 
the  borders  of  the  Hainai  territory,  aobut  three  leagues  from  the 
Concepcion  mission,  and  apparently  west  of  the  Angelina.4  The 
Cachae  thus  correspond,  in  location  and  relations,  to  the  Hainai, 
while,  moreover,  the  latter  are  the  only  tribe  that  appear  in 
this  locality  after  1716.  Considering  with  these  facts  the  proba- 
bility that  Jesus  Maria  would  hardly  have  left  the  head  tribe  un- 
mentioned  in  so  formal  a  description  as  is  his,  and  the  fact  that 

there  was  an  Asinay  tribe.  Similarly,  the  Memorias  copy  of  the  Repre- 
sentaci6n  of  the  "Padres  Misioneros"'  dated  July  22,  1716  (Vol.  XXVII, 
163)  states  that  the  mission  of  Concepci6n  was  founded  for  the  "Asinays," 
whereas  the  original  of  that  document,  as  of  Espinosa's  diary,  reads 
"Ainai."  This  error  has  been  copied  and  popularized. 

'Ramtin,  Derrotero,  in  Memorias  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  158;  the 
"Padres  Misioneros,"  Representaci6n,  Ibid.,  163;  Pefia,  Diario,  Ibid., 
XXVIII,  43-44;  Rivera,  Diario,  leg.  2142. 

"Maps  of  Cherokee  and  Nacogdoches  counties  (1879),  by  I.  C.  Walsh, 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  of  Texas,  compiled  from  official 
data. 

'Espinosa,  Diario,  entries  for  July  6  and  7;  RamGn,  Derrotero,  op.  cit. 

4Espinosa,  Crdnica  Apost6Hca,  424 ;  Morff ,  Mem.  Hist.  Texas,  Bk.  II,  MS. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.     261 

the  Hainai  is  clearly  the  head  tribe,  it  seems  reasonably  certain 
that  the  Cachae  and  the  Hainai  were  identical. 

The  Neche  Tribe  and  the  Mission  of  San  Francisco  (Second  Site). 

Southwest  of  the  Hainai  village,  nearly  straight  west  of  the 
Nacogdoche,  was  the  Neche  village,  near  the  east  bank  of  the 
Neches  River,  and  near  the  crossing  of  the  Camino  Real.  The 
diaries  usually  represent  the  distance  from  the  Neche  to  the 
Hainai  as  about  the  same  as  that  from  the  Hainai  to  the  Nacog- 
doche— some  eight  or  nine  leagues.1  The  air  line  distance  was 
evidently  somewhat  less  in  the  former  case  than  in  the  latter,  but 
the  route  was  less  direct,  since  between  the  Neches  and  the  Ange- 
lina rivers  the  road  bowed  quite  decidedly  to  the  north.  The 
usual  crossing  of  this  highway  at  the  Neches,  as  now  identified, 
was  at  Williams's  Ferry,  below  the  mouth  of  San  Pedro  Creek.2 
Archaeological  remains  help  us  to  identify  this  crossing  and  give 
certainty  to  the  approximate  correctness  of  our  conclusions.  These 
remains  are  the  Indian  mounds  east  of  the  Neches  River.  The 
first  mention  of  them  that  I  have  seen  is  that  by  Mezieres,  in  1779. 
His  record  is  important.  Passing  along  the  Camino  Real  on  his 
way  to  the  Nabedache,  he  noted  the  large  mound  near  the  Neches 
River,  raised,  he  said,  by  the  ancestors  of  the  natives  of  the  lo- 
cality "in  order  to  build  on  its  top  a  temple,  which  overlooked  the 
pueblo  near  by,  and  in  which  they  worshiped  their  gods — a  monu- 
ment rather  to  their  great  numbers  than  to  the  industry  of  their 
individuals."3  This  mound  and  its  two  less  conspicuous  compan- 
ions still  stand  in  Cherokee  County  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 

VEspinosa  tells  us  that  the  mission  was  near  a  spring  and  also  near 
an  arroyo  that  flowed  from  the  northeast.  He  gave  the  distance  from  the 
mission  from  the  camp  near  the  Neches  River  as  one  league,  and  that  to 
the  mission  of  Concepci6n,  east  of  the  Angelina,  eight  leagues,  going 
northeast  by  east,  then  east  (Diario,  entries  for  July  2  and  6).  Ram6n 
gave  the  distance  to  the  mission  of  Concepcifln,  from  the  camp  near  the 
Neches  apparently,  but  possibly  from  the  mission,  as  nine  leagues  east- 
northeast  (Derrotero,  in  Mem.  de  Niieva  Espana,  XXVII,  157-158). 

2See  maps  cited  above,  and  also  the  Map  of  Houston  County,  copied 
from  a  map  by  Geo.  Aldrich,  by  H.  S.  Upshur,  Draughtsman  in  the  Gen- 
eral Land  Office,  1841. 

"Letter  to  Croix,  August  16,  1779,  .MS.,  in  the  Archivo  General  y 
Pfiblico,  Mexico.  This  letter  was  written  at  the  "Village  of  Sn.  Pedro 
de  los  Navedaehos,"  just  after  Mezi&res  passed  the  mounds.  The  Memorias 
copy  of  the  letter  gives  the  name  of  the  place,  erroneously,  San  Pedro 
Nevadachos"  (Vol.  XXVIII,  241). 


262  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

the  river  and  five  miles  southwest  of  Alto,  in  a  plain  known  to 
some  as  Mound  Prairie,  undoubtedly  the  true  Mound  Prairie 
whose  whereabouts  has  been  debated.  They  are  on  land  now  the 
property  of  the  Morrill  Orchard  Company,  once  a  part  of  the 
original  grant  made  to  the  romantic  Pedro  Ellis  Bean.  The  Old 
San  Antonio  Eoad,  as  identified  in  the'  oldest  surveys,  ran  about 
three  hundred  yards  north  of  the  largest,  which  is  also  the  north- 
ernmost mound.1  This  mound,  standing  by  the  old  highway,  is  an 
important  western  landmark  for  the  location  of  the  early  tribes 
and  missions,  just  as  the  site  of  Nacogdoches  is  an  important 
eastern  landmark.  With  the  evidence  of  these  mounds,  the  name 
San  Pedro  attached  to  the  creek  joining  the  Neches  just  above  the 
crossing,  and  the  early  maps  of  the  Camino  Eeal,  there  is  no 
doubt  as  to>  the  approximate  location  of  the  old  crossing,  and,  con- 
sequently, of  the  sites  of  the  Neche  and  the  Nabedache  villages, 
with  their  respective  missions,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river. 

The  mission  of  San  Francisco  de  los  Texas,  reestablished  in 
1716  at  the  Neche  village,2  appears  from  the  diaries  to  have  been 
some  one  or  two  leagues — from  two  to  four  miles — from  the  cross- 
ing. Peiia's  diary  puts  it  at  two  leagues.  The  entry  in  his  diary 
for  August  3,  1721,  is  as  follows :  "The  bridge  [over  the  Neches] 
having  been  completed,  all  the  people,  the  equipage,  and  the  drove, 
crossed  in  good  order,  taking  the  direction  of  east-northeast,  and 
camp  was  made  near  the  mission  of  San  Francisco,  where  the 
presidio  was  placed  the  second  time  it  was  moved  in  1716.  The 
march  was  only  two  leagues."3  Eivera  gives  the  distance  from  the 
crossing  as  more  than  a  league.4  The  other  diaries  are  indefinite  on 
this  point,  but  the  conclusion  is  plain  that  the  mission  and  the 

information  furnished  by  Dr.  J.  -E.  Mayfield,  of  N'acogdoches.  The 
original  Austin  map  (1829)  in  the  Secretarfa  de  Fomento,  Mexico,  shows 
the  mound  on  the  north  side  of  the  road. 

2On  the  authority  of  the  corrupt  copy  of  Ram6n's  itinerary  in  the 
Memorias  (XXVII,  157)  it  has  been  stated  that  this  mission  was  founded 
at  the  "Nacoches"  village,  a  tribal  name  nowhere  else  encountered.  The 
original  of  the  itinerary,  however,  gives  the  name  "N'aiches,"  thus  agree- 
ing with  the  other  original  reports  and  clearing  up  a  troublesome  uncer- 
tainty. The  official  name  of  the  mission  was  San  Francisco  de  los  Texas, 
but,  because  of  its  location  at  the  Neche  village,  it  came  to  be  called, 
popularly,  San  Francisco  de  los  Neches. 

"Diary,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVTII,  38.  The  presidio  had  been 
temporarily  placed  in  1716  on  the  west  side  of  the  Neches,  near  a  small 
lake,  and  then  moved  across  the  river. 

4Rivera,  Diario,   1727,  leg.  2140. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      263 

Neehe  village  were  close  to  the  mounds,  the  mission,  at  least,  being 
apparently  farther  from  the  river. 

The  Nabedache  Tribe  and  the  Mission  of  San  Francisco   (First 

Site). 

The  westernmost  tribe  of  the  group  was  the  Nabedache.  The 
main  village  was  a  short  distance — perhaps  six  miles — west  of  the 
Neches  River,  above  the  crossing,  near  a  stream  that  early  became 
known  as  San  Pedro,  and  at  a  site  that  took  the  name  San 
Pedro  de  los  Nabedachos.  It  is  this  name  San  Pedro,  in  part, 
that  has  caused  some  persons  to  think,  groundlessly,  that  the  first 
mission  of  San  Francisco  was  founded  at  San  Antonio. 

The  exact  point  at  which  the  main  Nabedache  village  stood  I 
can  not  say,  not  having  examined  the  locality  in  person,  but  cer- 
tain data  enable  us  to  approximate  its  location  pretty  closely. 

First  is  the  testimony  of  the  diaries  and  other  early  documents. 
De  Leon  reported  in  his  itinerary  (1690)  that  from  the  camp  half 
a  league  from  the  Nabedache  chief's  house  to  the  Neches  Eiver, 
going  northeast,  it  was  three  leagues.1  The  site  examined  on  the 
river  at  this  point  was  deemed  unsuitable  for  the  mission  be- 
cause it  was  so  far  out  of  the  way  of  the  Indians";  consequently 
the  mission  was  established  close  to  the  camp  "in  the  middle"  of 
the  village.2  In  their  reports  to  the  home  government  Massanet 
and  De  Leon  seem  to  have  stated  that  the  mission  was  some  two 
leagues  from  the  Neches;3  while  Teran  in  1691  reported  it  to  be 
only  a  league  and  a  half  from  the  Mission  of  Santissimo  Nombre 
de  Maria,  which  was  evidently  close  to  the  Neches.4  Jesus  Maria 
and  Espinosa  said  that  the  village  was  about  three  leagues  from 

*Entry  for  May  26.  He  recorded  the  distance  going  and  coming  as  six 
leagues. 

2De  Leon,  Derrotero,  entry  for  May  27;  Massanet,  Letter,  in  THE  QUAR- 
TERLY, II,  305. 

'This  is  an  inference  from  the  instructions  given  in  1691  to  Teran  and 
Salinas,  which  required  them  to  examine  the  large  stream  two  leagues, 
more  or  less,  from  the  village  where  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  had 
been  established  the  year  before.  ( Ynstrucciones  dadas,  etc.,  January  23, 
1691,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  19;  Ynstrucci6n  que  ban  de 
observar  el  Capp.  D.  Gregorio  Salinas,  etc.,  April  13,  1691.  Archive 
General,  Provincias  Internas,  Vol.  182.  This  document  has  not  before 
been  used.) 

*See  note  2,  page  266. 


264  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

this  river,  the  former  adding  that  it  was  right  across  the  stream 
from  the  Neche  tribe.1  Joutel  and  Eamon  called  the  distance 
from  center  to  center  of  the  two  villages  about  five  leagues.2 
In  comparing  these  estimates  with  those  that  follow  we  must 
remember  that  it  was  somewhat  further  from  the  village  to  the 
crossing  of  the  river  than  to  the  river  at  its  nearest  point, 
for  as  early  as  1691  it  was  found  that  the  best  crossing  was 
down  stream  a  league  or  more.3  Keeping  these  things  in 
mind,  it  may  be  noted  that  Pena's  diary  makes  the  distance 
from  San  Pedro  to  the  crossing  four  leagues.  In  his  entry 
for  July  27,  1721,  he  says,  "The  Father  President  F.  Ysidro 
Felix  de  Espinosa  went  ahead  with  the  chief  of  the  texas,  who 
wished  to  go  to  arrange  beforehand  the  reception  in  the  place 
where  the  first  mission  had  been"  In  his  entry  for  the  next  day 
he  says,  "Following  the  same  direction  of  east-northeast,  the 
journey  was  continued  to  the  place  of  S.  Pedro  .  .  .  where  the 
Presidio  and  Mission  had  been  placed  (for  the  Spaniards  did  not 
go  beyond  this  point)  in  the  year  '90."  Here  the  reception  was 
held,  and  presents  were  made  to  Aguayo  by  the  Indians  of  the 
"ranches  which  are  near  by,"  the  point  being,  according  to  Pena's 
diary,  fifteen  leagues  northeast  from  the  crossing  of  the  Trinity,4 
and  four  from  the  crossing  of  "the  Neches,  passing  by  the  site  of 
the  presidio  as  it  was  first  established  in  1716.  Eivera's  diary 
makes  the  distance  from  San  Pedro  to  the  crossing  something  over 
four  leagues,  or  six  to  the  mission  on  the  other  side.  His  record 
is  interesting.  He  writes,  on  August  5,  "I  camped  this  day  near  a 
prairie  which  they  call  San  Pedro  de  los  Nabidachos,  formerly 
occupied  by  Indians  of  the  tribe  of  this  name,  but  at  present  by 
the  Neches  tribe,  of  the  group  of  the  Aynays,  head  tribe  of  the 
Province  of  Texas."  His  next  entry  begins,  "This  day,  the  sixth, 
.  .  .  continuing  the  march  in  the  same  direction  [east-one- 
fourth-northeast]  I  traveled  six  leagues,  crossing  the  Eio  de  los 


,  2,  6. 

"Relation,  in  Margry,  Decouvertes,  III,  341-344;  Ram6n,  Derrotero, 
op.  cit. 

Teran,  Descripci6n  y  Diaria  Demarcaci6n.  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana, 
XXVII,  47,  61. 

•Diario,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  34-35.  The  Italics  are 
mine.  It  may  be  noted  that  Pefia  and  Rivera  give  quite  commonly  shorter 
leagues  than  the  others. 


The  Native^  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      265 

Neches.  At  more  than  a  league's  distance  from  it  I  found  some 
huts  where  a  religious  of  the  Cross  of  Queretaro  resides,  destined 
...  to  minister  to  these  Indians  .  .  .  with  the  name  of  San  Fran- 
cisco de  Nechas,"  that  is,  the  mission  having  this  name.1  Soils, 
going  northeast  in  1767,  tells  us  that  San  Pedro  de  los  Nabe- 
dachos  was  beyond  the  San  Pedro  Kiver.  He  may  possibly  have 
meant  that  it  was  on  the  north  side,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  he  meant  that  it  was  east  of  one  of  the  southern  branches.2 

Our  inference  from  the  diaries  would  thus  be  that  the  first  site 
of  the  mission  of  Sa'n  Francisco,  in  the  village  of  the  Nabedache, 
was  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  leagues — from  three  to  six  miles — 
distant  from  the  Neches  River  at  its  nearest  point,  a  league  or  more 
farther  from  the  crossing,  and  still  another  league — in  all  some  ten 
miles — from  the  Neches  village  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

The  information  of  the  diaries  is  here  supplemented  by  geo- 
graphical names  and  the  old  surveys  of  the  Camino  Real  or  the 
San  Antonio  Road.  San  Pedro  Creek,  which  joins  the  Neches 
River  in  the  northern  part  of  Houston  County  still  bears  the 
name  that  was  early  given  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Nabedache  village 
and  the  first  mission  of  San  Francisco.  This  occurred  as  early 
as  1716  from  the  fact  that  Espinosa  and  Ramon  celebrated  the 
feast  of  San  Pedro  there.  The  celebration  took  place  at  a 
spot  which,  according  to  both  Ramon  and  Espinosa  was  thirteen 
leagues  northeast  of  the  crossing  of  the  Trinity.8  That  the  name 
was  continuously  applied  to  the  place  until  after  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century  is  sufficiently  established  by  the  citations 
already  made.  To  show  its  continued  use  thereafter  there  is 
an  abundance  of  evidence.4 

1Rivera,  Diario,  leg.  2140.  Ramon's  Derrotero  makes  the  distance  four 
leagues  from  San  Pedro  to  his  camp  near  the  Neches  or  to  the  mission 
site  across  the  river,  but  it  is  not  clear  which,  although  the  former  is 
probably  his  meaning.  (Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  155-157.) 
Ram6n's  Representaci6n  makes  the  distance  between  the  first  mission  of 
San  Francisco,  and  the  second  of  this  name,  at  the  Neche  village,  five 
leagues.  Ibid.,  159. 

'Diario,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  279. 

'Ramon,  Representaci6n,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  159. 
Ram6n  and  Espinosa,  Diaries,  entries  for  June  29-30. 

*See  Ramon,  Derrotero,  and  Espinosa,  Diario  (1716),  entries  for  June 
29-30;  Pefia,  Diario  (1721),  in  Mem.  de.  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  34; 
Rivera,  Diario  (1727),  leg.  2140;  Ereci6n  de  San  Xavier,  5  (1746); 
De  Soto  Vermudez,  Investigation  (1752)  ;  Soils,  Diario,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva 


266  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

Next  comes  the  testimony  of  the  Camino  Real,  or  the  Old  San 
Antonio  Road.  There  seems  to  he  no  good  topographical  reason 
why  this  old  highway  should  not  have  run  directly  from  Crockett 
to  the  Neches  at  Williams's  Ferry,  and  the  long  curve  to  the  north 
between  these  points  must  be  explained  as  a  detour  to  the  Nabe- 
dache  village  and  the  missions  located  nearby.  The  surveys  repre- 
sent this  highway  as  running  always  south  of  San  Pedro  Creek, 
never  crossing  it,  but  definitely  directed  toward  it  at  a  point  some 
six  or  eight  miles  west  of  the  Neches  crossing.1  The  point  cor- 
responds closely  to  that  designated  in  the  diaries.  Near  here, 
quite  certainly,  were  the  Nabedache  village  and  the  first  mis- 
sion of  San  Francisco,  while  not  far  away,  but  nearer  the  Neches, 
was  the  second  mission  established  in  that  region,  that  of  El  San- 
tissimo  Nombre  de  Maria,  founded  about  October,  1690.2 

The  Nacachau,  Nechaui,  and  Nacono  Tribes. 

Across  the  Neches  from  the  Nabedache,  only  a  few  leagues  away, 
and  adjoining  the  Neche  tribe  on  the  north,  was  the  relatively  little 
known  tribe  called  by  Jesus  Maria  the  Nacachau,  and  by  Hidalgo 
the  Nacachao.  We  have  seen  that  Jesus  Maria  described  the  Neche 
tribe  as  being  separated  from  the  Nabedache  only  by  the  Neches 
River.  Later  he  says,  "Toward  the  north,  where  the  above-men- 
tioned Necha  tribe  ends,  is  that  called  the  Nacachau."  The  Neche 
and  Nacachau  villages  were  thus  close  together.  Near  them 
the  second  mission  of  San  Francisco  was  founded  in  1716.  Ramon 
says  that  the  mission  was  founded  in  the  village  of  the  Naiches, 

Espana,  XXVII,  279;  Mezteres,  Cartas  (1778-1779),  in  Mem.  de  Nueva 
Espana,  XXVIII,  270;  Cordoba  to  Munoz,  December  8,  1793.  BSxar 
Archives,  Nacogdoches,  1758-1793.  It  may  be  noted  that  while  the  post- 
office  village  of  San  Pedro  preserves  the  name  of  the  general  locality,  it  is 
too  far  west  to  answer  to  the  site  of  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  and  the 
Nabedache  village. 

JSee  Upshur's  map,  cited  above. 

2This  mission  was  close  to  or  on  the  bank  of  the  Neches  River.  Accord- 
ing to  Ter&n's  itinerary  (1691)  it  was  a  league  up  stream  from  the  cross- 
ing and  a  league  and  a  half  northeast  of  the  mission  of  San  Francisco 
( Descripci6n,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espafia,  45,  47,  61;  Jesus  Maria  said 
that  it  was  on  the  bank  of  the  river  (Relaci6n,  104). 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      267 

and  the  "Padres  Missioneros"  say  that  it  was  for  the  "Naicha, 
Nabeitdache,  Nocono,  and  Nacachao."1 

Southeast  of  the  Neche  and  the  Nabedache  villages,  according  to 
Jesus  Maria,  were  two  villages  half  a  league  apart,  called  the 
Nechaui  and  the  Nacono.  Of  the  Nechaui  we  do  not  hear  again, 
but  from  Pena  (1721)  we  learn  that  the  Nacono  village,  which 
he  called  El  Macono,  was  five  leagues  below  the  Neches  crossing. 
This  would  put  the  Nechaui  and  the  Nacono  villages  five  leagues 
down  the  Neches  River,  perhaps  one  on  each  side.2 

The  Nasoni  Tribe  and  the  Mission  of  San  Jose. 

Above  the  Hainai,  on  the  waters  of  the  Angelina,  were  the 
Nasoni.  Joutel,  in  1687,  reached  their  village  after  going  from 
the  Nabedache  twelve  leagues  eastward,  plus  an  unestimated  dis- 
tance north.  Teran,  in  1691,  found  it  twelve  leagues  northeast  of 
the  Neche  crossing  below  the  Nabedache  village.3  The  founding, 
in  1716,  of  a  mission  for  this  tribe  and  the  Nadaco  gives  us  more 
definite  data  for  its  location.  The  missionaries  who  took  part  in 
the  expedition,  in  their  joint  report,  called  the  distance  from  the 
Hainai  to  the  Nacogdoche  eight  leagues  east-southeast,  and  that 
from  the  Hainai  to  the  Nasoni  mission  seven  northeast.  Pena, 
who  called  the  former  distance  nine  leagues  east-northeast,  esti- 

1  Jesus  Maria,  Relackm,  1691,  107-108;  Ram6n,  Derrotero  (1716),  in 
Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  158;  Padres  Missioneros,  Representa- 
ci6n  (1716),  Ibid.,  163;  Pefia,  Diario  (1721),  Ibid.,  XXVIII,  38-41; 
Rivera,  Diario  (1727),  leg.,  2140;  Bonilla,  Breve  Compendia,  1772,  in  THE 
QUARTERLY,  VIII,  35,  38.  As  I  have  indicated  above,  the  Memorias  copy  of 
Ram6n's  itinerary  states  that  the  mission  was  founded  in  the  village  of 
the  "Nacoches,"  a  miscopy  for  "Naiches."  The  map  on  page  256  was 
made  before  I  discovered  this  error  in  the  copy,  which  I  had  first  used. 
My  opinion  now  is  that,  with  this  correction,  the  sources  would  not  be 
violated  by  placing  the  Nacachau  tribe  somewhat  farther  north  than  I 
have  there  represented  it. 

"Jesus  Maria,  Relaci6n,  108;  Pefla,  Diario,  op.  cit.,  36. 

As  the  Nacono  visited  Aguayo  on  the  west  side  of  the  Neches,  I  have 
represented  the  village  on  that  side  in  my  map.  Of  course,  the  reason  is 
a  very  slight  one. 

Espinosa  in  his  diary  says  that  the  Nasoni  mission  was  founded  for 
the  Nacon6,  but  this  seems  to  be  a  form  of  Nasoni,  for  by  others  it 
is  uniformly  called  the  mission  of  the  Nasoni  or  of  the  Nadaco,  or  of 
both.  See,  Hidalgo,  letter  to  Mesquia,  October  6,  1716,  in  the  Archive 
General. 

'Joutel,  Relation,  in  Margry,  Dtcouvertes  III,  337-340;  Teran,  Descrip- 
cifin,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVII,  47-48. 


268  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

mated  this  as  eight  north.  Espinosa  put  it  at  seven  northeast.1 
Thirty  years  later  Espinosa  said  that  the  mission  was  founded  in 
the  Nasoni  tribe  and  ten  leagues  from  mission  Concepcion.2  This 
increase  in  his  estimate  of  the  distance  may  be  due  to  lapse  of  time 
and  his  long  absence  from  the  country. 

The  direction  of  the  Nasoni  mission  from  that  of  Concepcion 
was,  therefore,  evidently  northeast,  and  the  distance  about  the 
same,  perhaps  a  trifle  less,  than  that  to  the  Nacogdoche  village. 

Espinosa,  who  in  1716  went  over  the  route  from  the  Hainai 
to  the  Nasoni  to  establish  the  mission  of  San  Jose  recorded  in 
his  diary  that  on  the  way  there  were  many  Indian  houses 
(ranchos),  and  that  the  mission  was  situated  "on  an  arroyo  with 
plentiful  water  running  north."  We  must  look,  therefore,  for  a 
point  some  fifteen  or  more  miles  northeast  of  the  Hainai  on  a 
stream  running  northward.  These  conditions  would  be  satis- 
fied only  by  one  of  the  southern  tributaries  of  Shawnee  Creek, 
near  the  north  line  of  Nacogdoches  County.  In  this  vicinity, 
clearly,  was  the  Nasoni  settlement  in  1716.  It  seems  not  to  have 
changed  its  location  essentially  since  it  had  been  visited  by  Joutel 
and  Teran,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  and  it  remained  in  the 
same  vicinity  another  third  of  a  century,  for  in  1752  De  Soto 
Vermudez  found  the  Nasoni  'village  eleven  leagues  northward 
from  the  Nacogdoches  mission.8  The  mission  of  San  Jose  remained 
near  the  Nasoni  until  1729,  when,  like  those  of  San  Francisco,  at 
the  Neche  village,  and  Concepcion,  at  the  Hainai  village,  it  was 
removed  to  San  Antonio. 

The  Nadaco. 

For  the  rest  of  the  tribes  in  this  group  our  information  is  less 
definite.  The  Nadaco,  though  a  prominent  tribe,  can  not  be  located 
with  certainty  until  1787,  when  they,  or  at  least  a  part  of  them, 
were  on  the  Sabine  River,  apparently  in  the  northern  part  of 
Panola  County.4  But  in  1716  they  were  clearly  near  the  Nasoni, 

JPadres  Missioneros,  Representaci6n,  1716,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana, 
XXVII,  163;  Pefia,  Diario,  1721,  Ibid.,  XXVIII,  44;  Espinosa,  Diario, 
1716,  entry  for  July  10. 

*CV6mea  Apostblica,  418. 

'Investigation,  1752,  MS. 

'Francisco  Xavier  Fragoso,  Diary,  in  the  General  Land  Office,  Austin, 
Texas,  Records,  Vol.  68,  p.  174. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      269 

and  sometimes  the  two  tribes  seem  to  have  been  considered  as  one. 
Hidalgo,  who  must  have  known,  for  he  was  on  the  ground,  dis- 
tinctly states  that  the  mission  of  San  Jose  was  founded  for  the 
Nasoni  and  the  Nadaco.1  Although  the  mission  was  commonly 
known  to  the  Spaniards  as  that  of  the  Nasoni,  the  French  writers, 
in  particular,  including  San  Denis,  sometimes  called  it  the  Nadaco2 
mission.  Frequent  references  made  by  La  Harpe  in  1719  to  the 
Nadaco  show  that  he  is  either  speaking  of  the  Nasoni  or  of  a 
tribe  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  more  probably  the  latter,  since 
in  other  instances  the  tribes  are  so  clearly  distinguished.  For 
instance,  he  tells  us  that  when  at  the  Kadohadacho  village  on  the 
Red  Eiver,  not  far  from  Texarkana,  "they  assured  me  that  sixty 
leagues  south  was  the  village  of  the  Nadacos,  where  the  Spaniards 
had  a  mission,  and  that  they  had  another  among  the  Assinais,  in 
the  Amediche  [Nabedache]  tribe,  which  was  seventy  leagues  south- 
one-fourth-southwest  from  the  Nassonites  [which  were  near  the 
Kadohadacho]."3  In  1752  the  Nadaco  were  only  a  short  distance 

oapcrof t  Ubrwt 

'Letter  to  Mesquia,  October  6,  1716,  in  the  Archive  General  de  Mexico, 
MS.  The  Memories  copy  of  Ram6n's  itinerary  (XXVII,  158)  calls  this 
mission  that  of  the  "Noachis,"  but  the  original  reads  plainly  "Nasonis." 

"Thus,  La  Harpe  noted  in  his  journal  that  San  Denis,  who  conducted 
the  expedition  of  1716  that  founded  the  missions  "proposed,  sometime 
after  his  arrival,  that  he  should  be  the  conductor  of  nine  missionaries  to 
the  tribes  of  the  Adayes,  Ayches,  Nacocodochy,  Inay  and  Nadaco"  (Ex- 
trait  du  Journal  manuscrit  du  voyage  de  la  Louisiane  par  le  sieur  de  La 
Harpe  et  de  ses  dgcouvertes  dans  la  partie  de  1'Ouest  de  cette  colonie,  in 
Margry,  Decouvertes,  VI,  194).  San  Denis  himself  regarded  the  mission 
as  having  been  founded  in  the  Nadaco  tribe.  This  is  the  inference  from 
a  correspondence  carried  on  in  1735-1736  between  him  and  Sandoval,  gov- 
ernor of  Texas.  Sandoval  wrote  to  San  Denis  on  March  10,  1736,  ac- 
knowledging a  letter  of  December  2,  1735,  in  which  San  Denis  outlined  the 
basis  of  French  claims  to  country  west  of  the  Red  River.  Judging  from 
SandovaFs  summary  of  the  letter  (I  have  not  seen  the  letter)  he  alleged 
that,  with  Bienville,  he  had  explored  the  country  as  far  back  as  1702 ; 
that  in  1715  he  had  journeyed  from  the  "Asinais"  to  Mexico,  seeing  on 
the  way  only  vestiges  of  the  old  Spanish  settlements;  that  he  conducted 
Ram6n  into  the  country,  "the  result  of  which  was  the  foundation  [of 
missions],  which  it  was  requested  of  your  lordship  should  be  established 
among  the  Nacogdoches,  Nadaco,  Ainais,  and  Naicha,  and  the  subsequent 
ones  among  the  Ays  and  Adais,  maintaining  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
at  your  expense."  (Triplicate  of  Sandoval's  letter,  in  the  Archive  Gen- 
eral, Secci6n  de  Historia,  Vol.  524,  formerly  in  Indiferente  de  Guerra. 
With  this  letter  there  are  several  original  letters  of  San  Denis. 

*La  Harpe,  Relation  du  Voyage,  in  Margry,  op.  cit.,  VI  262.  See  also 
Ibid.,  266. 


270  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

northward  from  the  Nasoni,  apparently  northeast,  and  the  two 
tribes  then  had  a  single  chief.1 

Supposing  the  Nadaco  and  the  Nasoni  to  have  lived  in  clearly 
distinct  settlements  at  the  early  period,  the  Nadaco  could  hardly 
have  been  near  the  highway  from  the  Nasoni  to  the  Kadohadacho, 
for,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Nasoni  always  figure  as  the  last  station 
on  the  way  to  the  Kadohadacho.  It  seems  more  probable,  con- 
sidering this  last  fact  with  the  statements  made  about  the  mission 
of  San  Jose,  that  the  two  tribes  lived  in  a  settlement  practically 
continuous,  to  which  sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the  other 
name  was  given.  An  upper  branch  of  the  Angelina  is  now  called 
Anadarko  (Nadaco)  Creek,  and  it  is  possible,  in  spite  of  the  above 
considerations,  that  this  stream  was  the  home  of  the  Nadaco  at 
the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  French,  but  it  seems  more 
probable  that  it  was  applied  in  later  times  as  a  result  of  the  removal 
of  the  tribe  to  that  neighborhood. 

It  is  clear,  at  any  rate,  that  in  the  early  eighteenth  century  the 
Nadaco  village  was  very  near  that  of  the  Nasoni. 

Other  Tribes. 

Of  the  location  of  remaining  tribes  we  know  even  less  than  of 
the  last,  and  can  only  record  the  few  statements  made  of  them  by 
the  early  writers.  Three  leagues  west  of  the  Nasoni  Joutel  entered 
the  village  of  the  Noadiche  (Nahordike)2  who,  he  said,  were  allies 
of  the  Cenis,  and  had  the  same  customs.  This  location  corresponds 
with  that  assigned  by  Jesus  Maria  to  the  Nabiti,  and  the  tribes 
may  have  been  identical.  The  site  designated  was  apparently  west 
of  the  Angelina  River  and  near  the  southwestern  corner  of  Rusk 
County.  Similarly,  the  Nasayaya,  put  by  Jesus  Maria  east  of  the 
Nabiti,  may  possibly  have  been  the  Nasoni.  If  they  were  a  separate 
tribe  they  must  have  been  in  the  same  neighborhood.  If  separate, 
too,  they  early  disappear  from  notice,  unless  possibly  they  may  be 
the  Nacaxe,  who  later  are  found  in  the  same  latitude,  but  farther 
east.  All  that  we  can  say  of  the  location  of  the  Nacao  is  that 
they  were  northward  from  the  Nacogdoche,  and  probably  closer 

"This  is  on  the  well-founded  assumption  that  the  Nadote  discussed  by 
De  Soto  Vermudez  were  the  same  as  the  Nadaco  (De  Soto  Vermudez,  In- 
vestigation, MS. ) . 

'Relation,  in  Margry,  op.  tit.,  Ill  388. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.     271 

to  the  Nacogdoche  than  to  the  Nasoni,  since  they  were  attached  to 
the  Nacogdoche  mission.  A  reasonable  conjecture  is  that  they 
were  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nacaniche  Creek,  in  Nacogdoches 
County.1 

Thus,  with  varying  degrees  of  precision  and  confidence,  we  are 
able  from  a  study  of  the  documents  to  indicate  the  early  homes  of 
the  tribes  usually  included  in  the  Hasinai  group.  Five  of  the  sites, 
at  least,  are  reasonably  well  established,  and  these  are  historically 
the  most  important,  for  they  were  the  sites  of  Spanish  establish- 
ments, while  the  others  were  not.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  villages 
of  the  Nabedache,  Neche,  Hainai,  Nacogdoche,  and  Nasoni.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  topography  of  the  country  and  of 
the  archaeological  remains  would  doubtless  enable  one  to  verify 
some  and  to  modify  others  of  the  conclusions  here  set  forth. 

GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    SETTLEMENTS. 

It  will  be  helpful,  as  a  means  of  conveying  an  idea  of  the  true 
nature  of  the  work  attempted  by  the  early  Spaniards,  to  present 
a  brief  sketch  of  the  general  character  of  these  Indian  settle- 
ments and  of  their  numerical  strength. 

They  were  a  people  living  in  relatively  fixed  habitations,  and 
would  be  classed  as  sedentary  Indians,  in  contrast  with  roving 
tribes,  such  as  the  neighboring  Tonkawa  west  of  the  Trinity. 
They  subsisted  to  a  considerable  extent  by  agriculture,  and  lived, 
accordingly,  in  loosely  built  agricultural  villages,  for  miles  around 
which  were  detached  houses,  located  wherever  there  was  a  spot 
favored  by  water  supply  and  natural  or  easily  made  clearings. 
Their  dwellings  were  large  conical  grass  lodges,  which  accommo- 
dated several  families.  In  all  of  the  tribes  concerning  which  we 
have  relatively  full  data  there  seems  to  have  been  a  main  village, 
which  the  surrounding  communal  families  regarded  as  their  tribal 
headquarters.  It  is  these  central  villages  that  I  have  represented 
on  the  map. 

The  arrangement  of  the  settlements  may  be  most  safely  learned 
from  the  accounts  of  some  of  the  early  eye-witnesses.  Joutel  tells 

1  Jesus  Maria  puts  the  Nacogdoche  tribe  east  and  the  Nacau  tribe  north- 
east of  his  mission.  He  says  in  another  passage  that  the  N"acao  consti- 
tuted a  province  distinct  from  the  Aseney  and  thirty  leagues  from  the 
Nabedache. 


272  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

us,  in  1687,  that  from  the  edge  of  the  Nabedache  village,  west  of 
the  Neehes  Eiver,  to  the  chief's  house  in  the  middle  of  the  settle- 
ment, it  was  a  "large  league,"  and  that  on  the  way  there  were 
"hamlets"  of  from  seven  to  fifteen  houses  each,  surrounded  by 
patches  of  corn.  From  this  village  to  that  of  the  Neche  tribe 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river  it  was  some  five  leagues,  but  in 
fertile  spots  between  them  there  were  similar  "hamlets,"  sometimes 
a  league  apart.  So  it  was  with  the  country  to  the  northeast.  When 
he  left  the  Neches  Eiver  at  a  point  above  the  Neche  village  he 
wrote,  "We  pursued  our  route  toward  the  east,  and  made  about 
five  leagues,  finding  from  time  to  time  cabins  in  'hamlets'  and 
'cantons,'  for  we  sometimes  made  a  league  and  a  half  without 
finding  one."1  Between  the  Trinity  Elver  and  the  main  Nabe- 
dache  village  De  Leon,  in  1690,  encountered  only  one  settlement. 
It  consisted  of  "four  farms  (haciendas}  of  Indians  who  had  planted 
crops  of  maize  and  beans,  and  very  substantially  built  houses, 
with  high  beds  to  sleep  on."2  On  the  edge  of  the  Nabedache 
village  he  "arrived  at  a  valley  occupied  by  many  houses  of  Texas 
Indians,  around  which  were  large  fields  of  maize,  beans,  calabashes, 
and  watermelons.  .  .  .  Turning  to  the  north  by  a  hill  of  oaks, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  league  further  on  we  came  to  another  valley 
of  Texas  Indians,  with  their  houses,  their  governor  telling  us  that 
his  was  very  near.  We  pitched  our  camp  on  the  bank  of  an 
arroyo,  and  named  this  settlement  San  Francisco  de  los  Texas."3 
The  "governor's"  house  was  about  half  a  league  from  the  camp. 

Of  the  country  beyond  the  Neches  Teran  wrote  in  1691,  "We 
continue  our  march  [from  the  Neches].  ...  The  country  is 
very  rough  with  frequent  open  groves,  but  no  openings  larger 
than  a  short  musket  shot  across.  In  these  openings,  some  in  the 
lowlands,  and  some  in  the  sand,  their  houses  are  located."4  Joutel, 
in  describing  his  passage  from  the  lodge  of  one  Nasoni  chief  to 
that  of  another,  says,  "Those  who  had  escorted  us  went  ahead  and 
conducted  us  to  his  house,  about  a  quarter  of  a  league  away,  where 
his  cabin  was  located.  Before  reaching  it  we  passed  several  others, 
and  on  the  way  found  women  and  children  cultivating  their 

'Relation,  in  Margry,  op,  cit.,  341,  344,  387. 

2Derrotero,    MS.,   entry   for    May   20. 

'Ibid.,  entry  for  May  22. 

*Descripci6n  y  Diaria  Demarcaci6n,  op.  cit.,  48. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.     273 

fields."  In  1716  Bamon  referred  to  the  Hainai  settlement  on  the 
Angelina  Kiver  as  the  "pueblo  of  the  Ainai,  where  there  is  an 
infinite  number  of  houses  (ranchos)  with  their  fields  of  corn, 
watermelons,  melons,  beans,  tobacco,"  etc.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  in  his  passage  from  the  Hainai  to  the  Nasoni  in  1716  Espi- 
nosa  noted  many  houses  on  the  way.1 

After  several  years'  residence  among  these  tribes,  Espinosa,  hav- 
ing in  mind  the  dismal  failure  to  reduce  them  to  civilized  life, 
described  the  Hasinai  settlements  in  general  thus :  "These  natives 
do  not  live  in  congregations  reduced  to  pueblos,  but  each  of  the 
four  principal  groups  where  the  missions  are  located  are  in  ranchos 
[separate  houses],  as  it  were,  apart  from  each  other.  The  chief 
cause  of  this  is  that  each  household  seeks  a  place  suitable  for  its 
crops  and  having  a  supply  of  water."2  In  another  place  he  tells 
us  that  in  their  ministerial  work  among  the  Indians  the  padres 
had  to  travel  six  or  seven  leagues  in  all  directions  from  each  of  the 
four  missions.3 

It  is  thus  evident  that  the  Hasinai  settlements  by  no  means 
corresponded  to  the  Spanish  notion  of  a  pueblo,  built  in  close 
order.  To  induce  the  natives  to  congregate  in  such  pueblos,  as  a 
means  of  civilizing  them,  was  a  chief  aim  of  the  government  and 
the  missionaries,  and  failure  to  accomplish  this  was  a  primary 
cause  of  the  abandonment,  after  fifteen  years  of  effort,  of  all  but 
one  of  the  missions  of  the  group. 

NUMBERS. 

It  is  easy  to  gain  an  exaggerated  notion  of  the  numerical  strength 
of  the  native  tribes.  Popular  imagination,  stimulated  by  the 
hyperbole  of  writers  for  popular  consumption,  has  peopled  the 
primitive  woods  and  prairies  with  myriads  of  savages.  Student?, 
however,  have  shown  that  this  is  an  error,  and  that  the  Indian 
population  has  always  been,  in  historical  times,  relatively  sparse, 
In  their  efforts  to  counteract  these  exaggerated  notions,  they,  in- 
deed, have  leaned  too  far  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Moutel,  in  Margry,  op.  cit.,  Ill  392;  Ramon,  Derrotero,  in  the  Archive 
General  y  Publico,  Mexico,  entry  for  July  7;  Espinsoa,  Diario,  entry  for 
July  10. 

*Cr6nica  Apostdlica,  440    (1746). 

"Ibid. 


274  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

The  Hasinai,  apparently  one  of  the  most  compact  native  popu- 
lations within  an  equal  area  between  the  Eed  Eiver  and  the  Rio 
Grande,  numbered  only  a  few  thousands  at  the  coming  of  the 
Europeans.  What  I  have  already  said  about  the  nature  of  their 
villages  has,  perhaps,  prepared  the  reader  to  believe  this  asser- 
tion. While  our  statistical  information  on  this  point- does  not 
constitute  entirely  conclusive  evidence,  it  does,  nevertheless,  give  us 
a  basis  for  plausible  conjecture. 

The  earliest  estimate  that  might  be  called  general  is  that  con- 
tained in  a  memoire  of  1699,  printed  by  Margry,  and  based  ap- 
,  parently  upon  the  report  of  one  of  the  survivors  of  the  La  Salle 
expedition.  The  memoire  states  that  from  "Bay  Saint-Louis 
.  f  Matagorda  Bay]  going  inland  to  the  north-northwest  and  the 
northeast  there  are  a  number  of  different  tribes.  The  most 
numerous  is  the  Cenys  and  Asenys,  which,  according  to  the 
opinion  of  a  Canadian  who  has  lived  several  years  among 
them,  form  but  one  village  and  the  same  nation.  He  estimates 
that  they  do  not  exceed  six  hundred  or  seven  hundred  men.  The 
Quelancouchis  [Karankawa],  who  live  on  the  shores  of  the  sea 
about  Bay  Saint-Louis,  are  four  hundred  men."1 

It  would  seem  that  in  this  passage  the  term  "Cenys  et  Asenys" 
corresponds  closely  with  the  term  Hasinai  as  I  have  used  it,  unless, 
as  is  probable,  the  Nasoni  are  excluded;  but,  since  this  is  not  cer- 
tain, the  estimate,  though  based  on  long  experience,  would  not  be 
conclusive  without  corroborating  testimony.  This  we  get  in  1716. 
Ramon  tells  us  that  the  four  missions  founded  by  his  expeditions, 
which  were  within  easy  reach  of  all  the  tribes  described,  "would 
comprise  from  four  thousand  to  five  thousand  persons  of  all  ages  and 
both  sexes."2  In  the  same  year  Espinosa  recorded  in  his  diary  his 
opinion  that  the  Indians  grouped  around  the  three  Quer^taran  mis- 
sions, not  including  the  mission  among  the  Nacogdoche  and  the 
Nacao,  would  number  three  thousand;  and  after  a  residence  there 
of  some  years  he  estimated  the  number  of  persons  within  range  of 
each  mission  at  about  one  thousand.3  This  estimate  must  have 

lM§moire  de  la  Coste  de  la  Floride  et  d'une  partie  du  Mexique,  in 
Margry,  op.  cit.,  IV  316. 

•Derrotero,  in  Mem.  de  ffueva  Espana,  XXVII,  160. 
*Cr6nica  ApostdUca,  439. 


The  Native  Tribes  About  the  East  Texas  Missions.      275 

had  a  good  f oundation,  for  we  are  told  that  the  padres  kept  lists  of 
all  the  houses  and  of  the  persons  in  each.1 

Assuming  that  the  memoire,  Kamon,  and  Espinosa  include  the 
same  tribes  in  their  estimates,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  first  is  some- 
what the  more  conservative.  This  fact  strengthens  the  probability 
that,  like  other  early  reports,  the  memoire  did  not  include  the 
Nasoni  in  the  Hasinai. 

So  much  for  general  estimates  for  the  whole  group.  Detailed 
information  concerning  some  of  the  individual  tribes  appears  in 
1721.  When  Aguayo  in  that  year  re-established  the  missions  that 
had  been  abandoned  some  two  years  before,  he  made  a  general 
distribution  of  presents  and  clothing  among  the  Indians  at  the 
different  villages.  At  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  de  los  Neches 
he  gave  the  Neche  chief  the  Spanish  boston,  token  of  authority, 
and  "clothed  entirely  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight  men,  women, 
and  children."  Never  before  had  they  received  "such  a  general 
distribution."  West  of  the  Neches  Aguayo  had  been  visited  by 
a  hundred  Nacono  from  down  the  river.  At  the  mission  of  Con- 
cepcion  he  requested  the  Hainai  chief,  Cheocas  by  name,  to  collect 
all  his  people.  This  took  some  time,  as  they  were  widely  scat- 
tered, but  several  days  later  they  were  assembled,  and  Aguayo  gave 
clothing  and  other  presents  to  four  hundred,  including,  possibly, 
eighty  Kadohadachos,  who  happened  to  be  there  on  a  visit.  Simi- 
larly, at  the  Nacogdoche  mission  he  provided  clothing  "for  the 
chief  and  all  the  rest,"  a  total  of  three  hundred  and  ninety;  and 
at  the  Nasoni  mission  for  three  hundred.2  This  gives  us  a  total  of 
less  than  fourteen  hundred  Indians  who  came  to  the  missions  dur- 
ing Aguayo's  entrada  to  take  advantage  of  the  ever  welcome  pres- 
ents. This  number  apparently  included  the  majority  of  the  five 
most  important  tribes,  and  probably  included  some  from  the  neigh- 
boring smaller  tribes  attached  to  the  missions. 

The  conclusion  is  that  the  estimates  of  Eamon  and  Espinosa, 
which  put  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  included  in  1716  in  the 
ten  or  more  tribes  about  the  four  missions  at  four  or  five  thousand 
are  sufficiently  liberal.  If  this  conclusion  is  true,  the  tribes  could 
not  have  averaged  more  than  three  or  four  hundred  persons  each. 

*Cr6nica  Apostdlica,  439. 

2Pefia,  Diario,  in  Mem.  de  Nueva  Espana,  XXVIII,  36,  39,  41,  43,  44. 


276  Texas  Historical  Association  Quarterly. 

The  territory  then  occupied  by  perhaps  four  thousand  Indians  now 
supports  one  hundred  thousand  people.1  Kept  down  by  epi- 
demics, crude  means  of  getting  food,  and  to  some  extent  by  war,  the 
number  of  these  natives  was  small.  But  few  then,  they  are  incom- 
parably fewer  today,  for  the  descendants  of  all  these  tribes,  now 
living  on  the  reservations,  do  not  exceed  two  hundred  or  three 
hundred  souls.2 

'The  surviving  Caddo  and   Hasinai   together  numbered   551    persons   in 
1906   (Data  given  by  Dr.  Mooney  in  a  communication  of  April  23,  1908). 
2Estimate  based  on  the  United  States  Census  for  1900. 


